For Alinghi Red Bull Racing, it was an intense day of competition with two races, first against the Challenger of Record and later against the Defenders. Without a win on the third day of the preliminary round regatta, the Swiss team wants to continue to show its full potential on the race track.
In the first match of the day, an extremely close start led to an intense drag race between the Swiss and British teams on the first leg. With Britannia trailing, BoatOne kept the pressure on but the Brits rounded the top mark just ahead and were able to hold their lead to the finish and take the win. Race 2 for Alinghi Red Bull Racing, 80 minutes later, saw an aggressive pre-start from New Zealand which the Swiss were able to fend off. After the teams split early, the Kiwis were narrowly ahead on the first crossing, forcing BoatOne to turn away to clear the road. When the wind dropped to 7 knots, the New Zealand boat was able to pull away and sailed to a comfortable win, defending its unblemished record in the regatta so far.
Now there is only one day of the pre-regatta left, where the Swiss team will face the Italians in the last match, followed by the grand final between the two best placed teams.
Arnaud Psarofaghis, Skipper: “We more or less knew the game plans of both teams and were able to adapt our starting sequence accordingly. The wind was a bit changeable, which led to some interesting decisions. After the start line in the first race, when we slowed down and pushed the British back to the left, we probably should have been more aggressive and hit back to put more pressure on them. When they came back, they gained a small advantage on the left and we were bow to bow and couldn’t defend ourselves. From then on, the race was more about chasing them. But it will be very interesting for us to analyse it again later.
The race against Team New Zealand, especially the pre-start, went pretty well. We executed our plan and got the start on the side we wanted. We could have come out a bit faster, but I think it’s a matter of adjusting small details.”
Thery Schir, Cyclor: “To recover between races, we just tried to stay in the shade, drink enough, eat something and recharge our batteries before the second race. It was actually good to have a proper break, because more than an hour is enough to recover.
The wind dropped in the second race, so it was definitely more intense and tiring against the Kiwis. The slower we go, the longer we have to trim, which makes it a lot harder for us in the Power Group. I think we work really well together as a team of cyclists. The intensity has definitely increased, but within expected limits, so no big surprise. We’ve seen that it’s possible to do two races in one day, so we’re pretty confident in that respect.”
Pietro Sibello, Head Coach: “We are using this week to make sure we get the sail changes right next week and see which sails suit different winds. Today the weather forecast was a bit uncertain at the end, so we decided to take the biggest sail just before the start of the first race. We were a bit pressed for time, but we collected very good data for next week.
The good thing today was the start in both games. The guys pushed really hard to be aggressive and implement what they’ve learned over the last few weeks. As we know, the start is pretty crucial on this circuit. If you can start up front, it’s pretty easy to stay up front. We know where we need to improve and you can see what a great team is behind us. We’re working hard to get up there.”
